Bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trends are accelerating in today's everything-mobile environment. One disadvantage for today's users is that they have to carry multiple devices to stay connected to every aspect of their lives. The advent of consumerization has led employees to demand a greater say in the devices, applications and carriers they use at work. They either tend to regard company-issued mobile phones as their own, or they are looking to bring personal devices into the workplace to help them manage their day—but few are prepared to juggle two separate handsets nowadays. IT departments are struggling to react to the pace of change that these new types of hardware and operating systems pose in the enterprise environment. Data security is a particular concern as currently devices are used interchangeably for private and professional purposes, without proper restrictions placed on data access both on and off the device. At the moment, the frontier between personal and business devices is blurred, while smart phones are increasingly used for work purposes.
More specifically, a growing number of employees are already using their own phones for work-related activities. According to Forrester, 60% of companies now allow their employees to use personal smart phones and tablets at work a trend known as BYOD—“Bring Your Own Device.” However, using the same device for work and private purposes may be problematic. For instance, using your business phone to store your personal contacts means that these may end up in the company's backup base, raising privacy concerns. Further, having company data on a personal device raises the likelihood that dissemination of the company data outside of company communication channels may occur.
Current interest is now in dual profile enabled mobile devices. Companies can benefit from cost savings of a “bring your own device” (BYOD) policy and data security, and employees can enjoy a greater degree of freedom over the choice of mobile device for work use without compromising personal data privacy or restricting usage. However, current state of the art makes these dual profile enabled mobile devices cumbersome to use and operate effectively, both from a user interface perspective as well as from a device configuration perspective, including the requirement to have multiple personas for security reasons.